Configuring Static Routing

This chapter contains the following sections:

Finding Feature Information, page 1

Information About Static Routing, page 1

Licensing Requirements for Static Routing, page 4

Prerequisites for Static Routing, page 4

Guidelines and Limitations for Static Routing, page 4

Default Settings for Static Routing Parameters, page 4

Configuring Static Routing, page 5

Verifying the Static Routing Configuration, page 10

Related Documents for Static Routing, page 11

Feature History for Static Routing, page 11

Finding Feature InformationYour software release might not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveatsand feature information, see the Bug Search Tool at https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/ and the release notesfor your software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a listof the releases in which each feature is supported, see the "New and Changed Information"chapter or theFeature History table in this chapter.

Information About Static RoutingRouters forward packets using either route information from route table entries that you manually configureor the route information that is calculated using dynamic routing algorithms.

Static routes, which define explicit paths between two routers, cannot be automatically updated; you mustmanually reconfigure static routes when network changes occur. Static routes use less bandwidth than dynamicroutes. No CPU cycles are used to calculate and analyze routing updates.

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https://tools.cisco.com/bugsearch/

You can supplement dynamic routes with static routes where appropriate. You can redistribute static routesinto dynamic routing algorithms but you cannot redistribute routing information calculated by dynamic routingalgorithms into the static routing table.

You should use static routes in environments where network traffic is predictable and where the networkdesign is simple. You should not use static routes in large, constantly changing networks because static routescannot react to network changes. Most networks use dynamic routes to communicate between routers butmight have one or two static routes configured for special cases. Static routes are also useful for specifying agateway of last resort (a default router to which all unroutable packets are sent).

Administrative DistanceAn administrative distance is the metric used by routers to choose the best path when there are two or moreroutes to the same destination from two different routing protocols. An administrative distance guides theselection of one routing protocol (or static route) over another, when more than one protocol adds the sameroute to the unicast routing table. Each routing protocol is prioritized in order of most to least reliable usingan administrative distance value.

Static routes have a default administrative distance of 1. A router prefers a static route to a dynamic routebecause the router considers a route with a low number to be the shortest. If you want a dynamic route tooverride a static route, you can specify an administrative distance for the static route. For example, if youhave two dynamic routes with an administrative distance of 120, you would specify an administrative distancethat is greater than 120 for the static route if you want the dynamic route to override the static route.

Directly Connected Static RoutesYou must specify only the output interface (the interface on which all packets are sent to the destinationnetwork) in a directly connected static route. The router assumes the destination is directly attached to theoutput interface and the packet destination is used as the next-hop address. The next hop can be an interface,only for point-to-point interfaces. For broadcast interfaces, the next hop must be an IPv4or IPv6 address.

Fully Specified Static RoutesYou must specify either the output interface (the interface on which all packets are sent to the destinationnetwork) or the next-hop address in a fully specified static route. You can use a fully specified static routewhen the output interface is a multi-access interface and you need to identify the next-hop address. Thenext-hop address must be directly attached to the specified output interface.

Floating Static RoutesA floating static route is a static route that the router uses to back up a dynamic route. You must configure afloating static route with a higher administrative distance than the dynamic route that it backs up. In thisinstance, the router prefers a dynamic route to a floating static route. You can use a floating static route as areplacement if the dynamic route is lost.

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Configuring Static RoutingAdministrative Distance

By default, a router prefers a static route to a dynamic route because a static route has a smalleradministrative distance than a dynamic route.

Note

Remote Next-Hops for Static RoutesYou can specify the next-hop address of a neighboring router which is not directly connected to the routerfor static routes with remote (non-directly attached) next-hops. If a static route has remote next-hops duringdata-forwarding, the next-hops are recursively used in the unicast routing table to identify the correspondingdirectly attached next-hop(s) that have reachability to the remote next-hops.

Reliable Static Routing Backup Using Object Tracking DeploymentYou can configure Cisco NX-OS to initiate a backup connection from an alternative port if the circuit to theprimary gateway is interrupted. You can ensure reliable deployment backups in the case of certain catastrophicevents, such as an Internet circuit failure or peer device failure.

Reliable static routing backup using object tracking can determine the state of the primary connection withouthaving to enable a dynamic routing protocol. It also provides a reliable backup solution that can be used forcritical circuits that must not go down without automatically engaging a backup circuit.

In a typical scenario, the primary interface of the remote router forwards traffic from the remote LAN to themain office. If the router loses the connection to the main office, the status of the tracked object changes fromup to down. When this change occurs, the router removes the routing table entry for the primary interface andinstalls the preconfigured floating static route on the secondary interface. The routers secondary interfacethen forwards traffic to the preconfigured destination. The backup circuit can be configured to use the Internet.When the state of the tracked object changes from down to up, the router reinstalls the routing table entry forthe primary interface and removes the floating static route for the secondary interface.

IP Service Level AgreementsThis feature uses IP service level agreements (IP SLAs), a network monitoring feature set, to generate ICMPpings to monitor the state of the connection to the primary gateway. An IP SLA is configured to ping a target,such as a publicly routable IP address or a target inside the corporate network. The pings are routed from theprimary interface only. A track object is created to monitor the status of the IP SLA configuration. The trackobject informs the client, the static route, if a state change occurs. The preconfigured floating static route onthe secondary interface is installed when the state changes from up to down.

User Datagram Protocol (UDP) echo, or any other protocol supported by IP SLAs, can be used instead ofICMP pings.

Note

For more information on IP SLAs, see the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS IP SLAs Configuration Guide.

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Configuring Static RoutingRemote Next-Hops for Static Routes

BFDThis feature supports bidirectional forwarding detection (BFD). BFD is a detection protocol designed toprovide fast forwarding-path failure detection times. BFD provides subsecond failure detection between twoadjacent devices and can be less CPU-intensive than protocol hello messages because some of the BFD loadcan be distributed onto the data plane on supportedmodules. See theCisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS InterfacesConfiguration Guide, Release 6.x, for more information.

Virtualization SupportStatic routes support virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) instances. VRFs exist within virtual device contexts(VDCs). By default, Cisco NX-OS places you in the default VDC and default VRF unless you specificallyconfigure another VDC and VRF. For more information, see the Cisco Nexus 7000 Series NX-OS VirtualDevice Context Configuration Guide.

Licensing Requirements for Static RoutingThis feature does not require a license. Any feature not included in a license package is bundled with the CiscoNX-OS system images and is provided at no extra charge to you. For a complete explanation of the CiscoNX-OS licensing scheme, see the Cisco NX-OS Licensing Guide.

Prerequisites for Static RoutingIf the next-hop address for a static route is unreachable, the static route will not be added to the unicast routingtable.

Guidelines and Limitations for Static Routing You can specify an interface as the next-hop address for a static route only for point-to-point interfacessuch as generic routing encapsulation (GRE) tunnels.

The forward referencing of static routes is not supported for track objects.

If you are familiar with the Cisco IOS CLI, be aware that the Cisco NX-OS commands for this featuremight differ from the Cisco IOS commands that you would use.

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